PRESS RELEASE
Published on
Exhibit 99.1
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For Information: Geoff Mordock
Telephone: (213) 489-8271
Telephone: (213) 489-8271
Kaiser Aluminum Emerges from Chapter 11
Competitive and Financial Strength Positions the Company for Success; KALU Shares to Begin Trading on NASDAQ July 7
Foothill Ranch, Calif., July 6, 2006 — Kaiser Aluminum Corporation (NASDAQ: KALU) announced that
its Plan of Reorganization became effective today and the company has emerged from Chapter 11.
“Today is a great day for Kaiser Aluminum,” said Jack Hockema, Chairman, President and CEO of
Kaiser Aluminum. “I would like to express my gratitude to every one of our stakeholders —
customers, suppliers, employees and other partners — who stood by us over the past four-plus years
of challenging times.
“The new Kaiser Aluminum emerges with fabricated aluminum products as the core business and is a
vastly different company from the one that filed for reorganization in early 2002. Non-strategic
commodity businesses were divested, and we have addressed all of the material debt, legacy and
asbestos-related liabilities that confronted the company prior to bankruptcy. It is particularly
gratifying that we were able to develop a consensual plan that was overwhelmingly accepted by our
constituents.
“We are very excited about the future for Kaiser Aluminum. Our financial and competitive strength
positions us to grow and withstand the inevitable ebb and flow of business cycles. We will
continue organic growth with emphasis on plate products, forgings and custom extrusions. Our
current $75 million expansion initiative at the Spokane, Washington rolling mill is the cornerstone
of this strategy. In addition, we have an excellent platform for external growth, and will
consider acquisitions that are complementary to our current business structure with an emphasis on
value creation for our shareholders.
“We remain intensely focused on providing Best In Class performance for our customers. We will
continue to produce a broad array of fabricated aluminum products for customers that require highly
engineered applications while deploying lean enterprise principles to be a low cost producer.
“While our markets are cyclic, they are growing. The global market for aerospace and high-strength
products is now exceptionally strong, and our customers forecast additional usage of aluminum plate
over the next several years. As energy prices rise, demand for more fuel-efficient vehicles will
provide opportunities to grow our current business in the automotive industry. Looking out beyond
the current business cycle where the industry is experiencing historically high pricing, we
anticipate our sales growth and cost reduction initiatives to cushion the impact of prices
returning to more normal levels,” concluded Hockema.
Kaiser Aluminum began the distribution of shares of common stock today. Shares will commence
trading tomorrow, July 7, on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol KALU.
Additional information regarding emergence related matters can be found in a current report on Form
8-K that the company filed today with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Kaiser Aluminum is a leading producer of fabricated aluminum products for aerospace and
high-strength, general engineering, automotive and custom industrial applications. For more
information, please visit our Web site at www.kaiseraluminum.com.
F-1046
Company press releases may contain statements that constitute “forward-looking statements”
within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements can be
identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “believes,” “expects,” “may,”
“estimates,” “will,” “should,” “plans” or “anticipates” or the negative thereof or other variations
thereon or comparable terminology, or by discussions of strategy. Kaiser cautions that such
forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future events and involve significant risks and
uncertainties, and that actual events may vary materially from those expressed or implied in the
forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. These factors include the effectiveness
of management’s strategies and decisions, general economic and business conditions, developments in
technology, new or modified statutory or regulatory requirements, and changing prices and market
conditions. Certain sections of the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, as amended by Form
10-K/A, identify other factors that could cause differences between such forward-looking statements
and actual results (for example, see Item 1A. “Business —Risk Factors” and Item 7. “Management’s
Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations”). No assurance can be
given that these are all of the factors that could cause actual results to vary materially from the
forward-looking statements.